Sam Davis rushed for 104 yards and three scores and added a key first-half touchdown reception, as Pella High withstood a strong effort from Perry in a 41-20 win in last night’s Class 3A Football Playoff opener in Pella.

The Bluejays put up the first score of the game on a 52-yard field goal and led by as much as 13-7, but a 13-point swing – courtesy of two of Davis’s scores – put the Little Dutch out front for good. Pella head coach Jay McKinstrey credited the offensive line for keeping the coaching staff informed on Perry’s defense and then executing well on their assignments.

“They were doing a good job of telling us where they [Perry] were lining up, recognizing where they were at, so we could put our guys in good positions to have good plays. I thought they did a really good job at that tonight,” said McKinstrey.

“They just kept saying, ‘Coach, we can take them here, we can do this, this, and this,’ and we said, ‘ok, let’s just keep doing it.’ I thought they did a great job of that tonight and then just doing their assignments and trying to create pushes to give Austin [Fuller] and Sam [Davis] some space, along with [Grant] Gustafson and Josh [De Waard].”

Austin Fuller led Pella’s overpowering ground game, tallying 191 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, while quarterback Josh De Waard added 91 yards and a score on nine carries. In all, the Little Dutch rushed for 421 of their 496 yards of total offense; with De Waard completing 5-of-6 passes for the other 75 yards.

Pella is now 9-1 overall this season and will play Norwalk on Monday in Pella for the 2nd round of the Class 3A Playoffs. The Warriors squeaked past Keokuk 34-33 in overtime.